The purposes of this study are, to conduct a survey of the current stages of development and utilization of performance assessment (PA) in local community mental health centers, to identify the factors that explain these levels of adoption, and to provide recommendations for policy makers and administrators regarding the improvement and utilization of local performance assessment. The study hypothesizes that adoption will be greater when political support in the environment is high, when general and specific economic scarcity exists, when centers are in "decline" phases of their life cycle, and when administrative strategies interpret PA to be in center's interests, are rationalistic, and use participative change approaches. Findings will contribute to the understanding of change in public organizations, will add to the knowledge of public administration, and will be useful to policymakers, administrators, researchers and evaluators concerned with organizational performance. The study will employ a mailed survey of key informants from a sample of CMHCs that illustrate high and low adoptors of performance assessment. Hypotheses for each of the explanatory factors will be tested, as well as a complex model containing all of the independent properties.